1 pm

From the series Twenty-four
Hours of the Day at Shimbashi and Yanagibashi (Shinryu
nijushi toki)

published in 1880-1.

This series follows the pattern of
previous print series by artists such as Utamaro, depcting bijin
(beautiful women) engaged in pursuits at different hours of
the day, but the use of the 24-hour clock gave the series a modern
ring, as Japan had only recently moved from the Chinese zodiacal
system; many other Western innovations are mentioned or depicted
on the prints. The text on the prints was provided by the writer-journalist
Takabatake Ransen (1838-85). All the women in the series are geisha
(skilled entertainers/performers, not prostitutes), except
for the woman in this print who has retired from the profession
of geisha to become a wife. We see her blackening her teeth
with a dye made from iron filings (ohaguro), an indication
of her new status. Blackened teeth were considered attractive (visible
teeth were regarded as improper) and were usually the mark of a
married woman.

'In celebration of her retirement,
she sends gifts of steamed rice and red beans
garnished with nanten leaves.
Now she looks in the mirror
chased with the nanten design.
'An enviable Head Geisha', they all say,
'the greatest wife under the sun,
with her lovely blackened teeth,
shining like her husband's gold.''